General

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There are some very interesting numbers coming in from Canalys that shows us some info about the sales of touch screen smart phones. This reports shows that over 50% of the smartphones sold around the world have touchscreen features. It is no real surprise that Apple iPhone 3GS unlocked remains the leader, even though they really only have two mobile units. But what is interesting is that Nokia is not that far behind them. This is most certainly putting some pressure on Apple to keep on top of their game. The other companies such as HTC and Samsung still have quite a ways to go to catch up. This should indicate that we will see more touchscreen updates and releases this year. We should also see Samsung increase its market share since they did much better in 2009. The big news is looking at Nokia N900 cell phone and their percentage of increase over their shipments of 2008. We can expect Nokia to make a major presence in the market in the coming months. Does this mean that they will over take Apple? It is hard to say, but 2010 should be a very interesting year for all of the companies.

When we take a look at the OS systems for the smartphones, Symbian is still in the lead, but they did not experience much growth. Apple and Google could both be real contenders on overthrowing Symbian over the next few years. The amazing success of Google Android OS could see them overtaking Microsoft very soon. It must be discouraging for Microsoft to see their market share go done. Hopefully some of their new releases will be exciting enough for them to stay in the game.

It will be interesting to take a look at some of these numbers at the end of this year. We may see some upsets and some very surprising statistics. At the very least, the number of touchscreen phones should go well over 60% of the number of mobile devices sold. This will surely be a great year for the mobile phone industry.

QVC the online multimedia giant does it again. In a bid to lure customers for Christmas shopping they have launched an easy to use application for shopping online through the iPhone and iTouch. This application comes for yes. YES. Anyone using an Apple iPhone or iTouch can just grab this and start shopping from QVC right away. This is something for everyone including the mothers and grandmas to rejoice because with the click of a key and at the comfort of your house you can buy almost any multimedia product from QVC. What better Christmas gift would the young boys and girls ask for. All the new range of electronic multimedia gears is listed in the write with the daily offers and that includes the day’s special offers and even the offers that are one time value.

The application also features all the current items in the stock and has a checklist that you can use and refer later. This does not stop here. What about wanting to tell your friends that their favorite Christmas gift is just a click away? You can also do that by sending out emails via their sharing element facility. This facility application is linked to the I Tunes link, which can be downloaded for free. All you need is to get a little tech savvy and maybe you don’t have to queue up in the bitter cold anymore. That’s something grandma would rejoice as she can shop for her favorite grandchildren from the comfort of the house.

What about gifting grandma an iPhone for a start? Now that is a booster for QVC as their I Phone sales itself may go up the ladder. It is not only electronics but QVC has stocks of kitchen items, Handbags, Beauty and Fashion items like jewelry, home improvement items and wellness and sports items and many more. Hence with an unlocked iPhone 3GS and QVC apps its shopping from home this Christmas.

T-Mobile has added three more towns to the relentless build of its 17000MHz 3G voice and data services network and shows no slowing down as we roll out of 2009 and into 2010. These services are now available in a number of markets across the United States under the influence of T-Mobiles electronic web.

At the moment the major markets and their surrounding areas in the TM network's empire include Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Atlanta, Chicago, San Diego, San Antonio, San Diego, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis, Baltimore and Las Vegas among others.

Recently the there have been three newcomers to the network, Amarillo and Abilene Texas as well Albany Georgia. There are comments on the internet that T-Mobile is still being to slow in their drive to supply the United States with high-speed internet but when they do finally extend their coverage people will find it was worth the wait.

They are also making big plans for 2010 when they are going to continue their 3G upgrade to HSPA+ giving them a 21mbps capability as well as release a number of android 2.0 devices.

But T-Mobile is of course aware that most of their customers really want to know the where and when of HSPA; and they are hinting that with Christmas coming up and the latest 3G announcements, they will be elaborating on that point very soon. They have, apparently been laying out aggressive plans for 7.2 mbps HSPA deployment through all 3G spectra by the end of the year.

In the meantime there is still the outdoors as well and real people to speak too in the flesh before everybody is reveling in high-speed internet and unlocked Smartphone heaven. Be content in the knowledge that T-Mobiles upgrades will be aggressively pursued until they are covered countrywide.

On Wednesday, November 25, 2009, T-Mobile announced that it has expanded 3G network services to two cities in Indiana. Bloomington and Lafeyette are the targeted markets. These two markets are home to Indiana University and Purdue University. Together both areas boast over 100,000 students, making these academic areas a great place to start services. The folks at Notre Dame are hoping to be next!

T-Mobile began its expansion into the 3G market back in the fall of 2006 with its announcement that it was going to spend over two billion dollars to expand 3G wireless services. T-Mobile was one of the last of the major cellular services companies to enter into the 3G network. The company announced at that time that they should be completed with the conversion by the end of 2009.

With the introduction of the Android model and other smart phones, T-Mobile has been trying to quickly add as many 3G network areas as possible. With T-Mobile still lagging behind the other companies, they are well on their way to catching up. Each week we see more and more cities being added to the network. To date, T-Mobile has over 240 cities with 3G coverage.

Most people have the need for the 3G network for web applications and email applications. The increased speed of the 3G network will assist the customer in their day to day applications and usages. T-Mobile has also announced its usage of 7.2 mbps HSPA through its 3G networks which will increase the speed of data transfer. This expansion will continue until the end of the year. This coincides with the introduction of the Android and other smart phones.

We can look to next year for the company to upgrade its 7.2 mbps HSPA to further enhance its 3G network and there is also speculation that this upgrade will be a smoother transition to a 4G network in the near future.

The announcement of the two cities in Indiana comes on the heels with announcements for Alabama, Kansas, Tennessee and Nebraska. Each announcement centering on larger urban areas with more dense populations. We will continue to see additional cities being listed almost every day.

Google Maps Navigation is now available for Android 1.6. It is noteworthy that Google had launched the application earlier for Android 2.0 but 1.6 was left out. Various cell phone handset owners who had Android 1.6 on their phones were disappointed, but there’s a reason for them to be ecstatic now. A large number of users love the navigation because it is free and gives turn by turn directions of maps.

Google has been providing free mapping software for a variety of smartphones. Though Google’s free services might be killing market for other small service providers who generate revenue by selling their navigational applications, yet the good news for users is that Google Maps Navigation, which was earlier available for Android 2.0 is now available for Android 1.6 also. There’s no monthly fee and since the application connects to internet, you don’t need to purchase any updates of map.

Phones running Android 1.6 can download an updated version from Android Market now. The early adopters of the Android platform were left out since the navigation facility was not for latest version of Android. It is noteworthy that earlier Google earlier announced that Android 2.0 will be running its navigation application.

The phones that were left out earlier from the Google Map Navigation can take a sigh of relief as their cell phones running on Android 1.6 will also be able to use the navigation facility. Google only recently made the announcement that its navigation facility will be available for Android 1.6 also. The application is free of cost and provides directions by using Smartphone’s embedded GPS and internet connection.

Several other services which provide paid services for navigational applications would be hit as the latest announcement by Google will kill their market. This will be a tough time for them. Anyways, users will have a great time using the navigational application running on their mobile handsets.

Cricket Wireless, known for their affordable plans, has now opened for business in Lake Charles, Louisiana. For Cricket, this is their first attempt to build a brand presence in Louisiana markets, and gives them new coverage from the TX/LA border to east of Lake Charles.

What does this recent addition do for Cricket’s overall coverage? According to press releases, this will increase their footprint by 1,367 square miles. From Leap’s (Cricket’s parent company) perspective this new market gives them continuous coverage from southwestern Texas to Crowley, Louisiana. The total geographic area accounts for over 27,000 square miles and nationally brings their covered POPs to 91.3 million.

With Cricket’s new Louisiana wireless services will also come 30 new jobs. These are welcomed additions to the area during such difficult economic times. The bulk of these jobs will be provided by wireless retailers offering Cricket service plans.

Cricket believes that the pricing on their plans uniquely positions them to increase market share. Their plans cost $30-$60 a month and include services that would be more expensive with comparable plans at most competitors’ rates. Included in Cricket plans are: unlimited any time minutes, unlimited U.S. long distance, unlimited text and picture messaging, unlimited texting to Mexico, just to name a few. Cricket also offers daily rates as low as $1 through their PAYGo plans. For these plans, Cricket will offer their customers about twelve different cell phones from which to choose.

In addition to the phone services, Cricket will offer low cost broadband services in the Lake Charles coverage area. The broadband service can be purchased by those who have an existing account with Cricket as part of their package, or it can also be bought as a stand-alone service. Cricket will offer their newest market all these services in the same manner they do all their other coverage areas; without signed contracts or credit checks.

Simple Mobile, a new Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), has hit the market with its crazy rates of $40 for unlimited voice plan across US. Simple Mobile launched its operations with SIM card plans for GSM users. The three plans it has offered are; $40 for unlimited talk plan, $45 for unlimited talk and text messages and $50 for unlimited talk, text and web costs.

For $40, Simple Mobile offers unlimited local, long distance and 411, voicemail, caller id and call waiting. For $45, it offers unlimited US and Global text in addition to all services for previous plan. For $50, Simple Mobile offers mobile web, IM, MMS, email and social networks up to 20MB in addition to all services for previous plan. Users can double their data to 40MB for another $5 per month. That’s good enough an offering.

The wireless prepaid market is getting stiffer with the introduction of Simple Mobile’s unlimited plans. Some other carrier is expected to follow soon with better or equivalent plans.

The users don’t need to sign any contract nor have their credits checked. Simple Mobile provides porting facility from other numbers upon request. The company will assist users whose handsets need additional programming. Customers can activate their own GSM handsets with Simple Mobile plans.

On its website, Simple Mobile provides a coverage map and it seems it is operating on T-mobile network. But it might be coincidental too.

There are certainly many customers out there waiting for no contract and unlimited plan. May be the present prepaid carriers have something to worry about now.

Austin and San Antonio, Texas were the two cities lucky enough to experience Clearwire and Sprint’s unveiling of their WiMax technology today. The WiMax is a 4G network that will ultimately serve to optimize the efficiency and mobility of service for their customers. Essentially, the WiMax system is like an upgrade but for wifi—bridging the ever-shrinking gap between …as it helps to make every handheld wireless devices to become every bit as efficient and capable as large modems, hard drives, engines and hardware.

This also serves as a potentially lucrative business incentive for Sprint and Clearwire, as the prospect for faster and more efficient service is made readily available for their clients upon the purchase of 4G equip devices such as modems, laptops and other various 4G embedded processor devices.

At present, Sprint’s nationwide communications consists mainly of 3G networking. They currently enjoy the title of being the nation’s largest 3G network and they are looking to expand that into 4G territory. Together with Clearwire, they have already introduced widespread 4G coverage to the public in Charlotte, Raleigh, Winston Salem and Greensboro and by the end of the year plan to have made it available in more than a dozen cities nationwide.

As of now, it is not clear exactly why Sprint and Clearwire have chosen the select cities, nor do we know the specifics of the proposed 4G devise that they have on the horizon. One can only guess, however, that they have chosen Second tier cities, surrounded by relatively rural or sparsely-populated areas in order to ascertain and to more closely examine to what extent exactly, the new and improved technology will have on society as a whole. What is certain is that such a move can only help Sprint to further secure its position as a nation’s leading service provider, as today we see once again, another innovative thrust towards an increasingly informational-driven society.

There has been a considerable dearth as far as Flash support for iPhones and iPod Touches, and most of the Android devices as well, which has made it hard for any video sites that are Flash-based to get into the action as far as the bourgeoning market of video consumer devices and Smartphones. Apple iDevice and Android users everywhere will likely be delighted to hear that there are new offerings starting today that they can use on their gadgets of choice.

The ever popular YouTube website was able to implement a way in which they could work around the issue by encoding all of the up-loaded videos in two separate files, Flash and .mp4 but other sites have not been able to get into the same mode, and have been left out in the cold. Unfortunately for those who use these devices, YouTube was about the only website that was able to make this king of magic happen, and iPhone and Android users have had to be patient and bide their time waiting for others to come on board.

Fortunately, there has been a breakthrough that will allow Vimeo to bring out some support for iPhones and Androids, even though it will have to be on a limited platform. Vimeo has solved this lock out problem by re-encoded the favorites and High-Def video showcases to enable them to play on iPhones and iPod Touches, as well as on an Android handset. Mobile friendly Vimeo's busy website ought to have these available today for interested iPhone and Android users. Therefore, for those who have an unlocked iPhone cell phone, iPod Touch, or Android and have been anxiously awaiting the promised files, a virtual trip on the web with a stop at Vimeo will perhaps net them some long-awaited support for their favorite mobile device.